The Post Civil War Technological Boom
ESSAY: What were the three major factors that contributed to the immense technological boom that took place in the U.S. after the Civil War? Explain how these factors helped to bring about this technological boom. What were some of the effects of this boom?
Until the Civil War the United States was a small non-industrialized nation, but after the war this was to rapidly change. Within sixty years the United States had become a world leader in an industrial as well as technological era. Big business, optimism, and a view of America as the land of opportunity marked this technological era. Although many things contributed to bringing about this boom, three major factors were at play: a wealth of natural resources, a boom of new inventions, and a growing labor force.
The country's technological boom stemmed directly from its natural resources for they supplied the raw materials needed to produce the newly invented goods. In 1840 Abraham Gesner figured out that kerosene could be used to light lamps and discovered how to extract it from oil. Later in 1859 Edwin L. Drake successfully drilled oil from within the Earth at Titusville, Pennsylvania. The gasoline byproduct of this product was then used to fuel the newly invented automobile in the early 1890's. Abundant deposits of coal and iron were also found throughout the country. Through the Bessemer process these raw materials could be transformed into stronger, non-rusting, lighter, and more flexible steel. This steel was used in barbed wire and farming machines, which transformed the plains into the food producers of America, as well as in the cans used to store these foods. It was bought by the railroads, which made the entire industrial age possible. Without the steel for these tracks the railways could have never been built across the nation, and therefore would not have allowed the exchange of goods and ideas, which were necessary for the technological boom of the time. Lumber too was also an important natural resource for Americans. It still supplied most Americans with heat and was used in many building structures. Through the discovery and use of natural resources such as oil, coal, iron, and lumber the technological boom could be ushered into America.
Through inventions in communication, travel, and machinery the technological boom could begin. In 1876 Thomas Alva Edison perfected the light bulb and invented an entire system for the production and distribution of electricity. Electricity opened new doors to American business. This inexpensive and convenient source of energy was used to power residential homes as well as all the machinery in the industries. It allowed the growth of cities outward and the spread of industry away from a nearby source of power, which in turn let business grow like never before. Christopher Sholes invented the typewriter in 1867, which allowed legible legal documents to be drawn up quickly. The telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, laid the groundwork for global communications. These new inventions created many new jobs but also eliminated the need for specialized workers, but overall improved the standard living style of the average person.
Perhaps the most important contributing factor to the technological boom was the increasing labor force, for without anyone to work at a factory how could an industry function. Because of the size of the work force, laborers could be paid very little for the services and business could gain power. Immigrants from Europe, Asia, and the Orient flowed into the country increasing its population, thus allowing more industries to appear, with more job openings. The labor source was not only the maker of goods but also the consumer. Without out them there would have been no demand or need for a technological boom. Americans of the time believed in a dream, this dream was to rise out of their ranks of poverty and into those of riches. Following this dream many Americans were willing to put in the long hours for little pay and do the dangerous backbreaking jobs necessary for the technological boom to occur.
There were many effects brought about by this technological boom, some good but many were bad. The most obvious effect was the growth of the railroad. Because of their outlandish price policies, the Interstate Commerce Act was passed in 1887. The act reestablished the government's right to supervise business actions that would effect the trade among states. Big business was also a byproduct of the technological boom. Men like Carnegie and Rockefeller established monopolies through vertical integration, the process in which a company buys out its suppliers, as well as horizontal integration, in which a company buys out its competition. To hide these monopolies from the government trusts, or groups of people who ran separate corporations as one, were formed. To counteract these trusts the government passed the Sherman Antitrust Act which prohibited the interference with the free trade among the states. This Act could not be enforced and was later used to the benefit of the people whom it was trying to constrain. The theory of Social Darwinism also appeared due to the boom. It stated that only the strongest, most fit business would survive. Unions such as the NLU, AFL and Knights of Labor were formed by men and women such as Eugene Debs and Mary Harris "Mother" Jones to stand up against the big businesses of the time. The Unions would use tactics such as strikes to lower outrageous working hours, extremely low wages, ban child labor, and improve safety condition of the work place. Because of the technological boom many new problems faced Americans and the Government such as what to do about monopolies, bad working conditions, and Unions, but in the end all these problems were worked out and the nation was carved into what it is today.